Boating Enthusiasts and Their Pet Opt For Stone & South on the River Over Cottage Ownership

For avid boaters Marcia Franklin and Sheldon Warman, living on water was always a dream.

For these Oakville, ON residents, that dream will come true when they take possession of their brand new condominium residence at Stone & South on the River in Gananoque, ON.

CaraCo Development Corporation’s community of exclusive dockside residences on the St. Lawrence will serve as the perfect vacation home for this entrepreneurial couple. Marcia is an accomplished athletic therapist who was on the Canadian Medical Olympic team in 1996, 2000 and 2004, and Sheldon is a structural engineer specializing in forensic engineering.

“We have a 29’6” Regal Sport Cruiser docked in nearby Port Credit, and have boated to the Gananoque area every summer, for the past eight years. We dock at the public marina there,” Marcia says, “but once we move in, we’ll have our own slip right out the front door on the water. While we do like the idea of a cottage, we don’t want the maintenance work that comes with owning. At Stone & South, we’ll be able to jump in our boat, come back, walk a block or two to have a nice dinner and not worry about fixing the dock, mowing the lawn, and all that home ownership entails. For a small town, Gananoque has a surprising number of good restaurants. Plus, we’ll live right next door to the Thousand Islands Playhouse which is a nice added attraction. And, our long range plan is to spend even more time in Gan when we get closer to retirement.”

Sheldon agrees. “With the two of us being so busy running our businesses, I look at a cottage as an additional job. The work involved is the biggest complaint of the people I know who have cottages. Our leisure time is too precious to waste on more work. Plus, a few years ago, when we started boating in the Thousand Islands, we just loved it. Unlike boating on Lake Ontario, there are always islands we can tuck in behind to get out of the wind. We use our boat more in that area than we do in Port Credit, because it’s there’s more to see and do. In Port Credit I feel like our boat is a glorified picnic table on the water.”

“An expensive picnic table,” Marcia adds. “Our boat isn’t big enough to live on for multiple weeks of vacation, so we want a home base with air conditioning where we can go get refreshed after spending the day in the sun. At Stone & South, we’ll have gorgeous views, but all the on land creature comforts.

“People in the GTA tend to think of going to Muskoka for cottaging and boating. They take up their food, do the cooking or drive into town to eat. In Gananoque, we will be able to walk out the door and access several restaurants, have a few drinks and walk home. It will be more like a vacation,” she said.

“GTA dwellers should also realize that there is a train to Gananoque and Kingston, just 20 kilometers away. It’s a 2½- to 3-hour drive, but there are major towns along the way where you can stop for a meal or a rest. Cobourg is the halfway point from Oakville, Belleville is growing; and then there’s Kingston with its comprehensive amenities,” said Sheldon.

Marcia and Sheldon purchased a 1,056 square-foot, two-bedroom corner suite named Howe Island with a wraparound balcony. “We will have an unobstructed view of many of the Thousand Islands,” Marcia says, “and from the kitchen, I can look south and west for eye catching sights. Another benefit for us is that Stone & South is pet friendly. There’s an off leash area right on the property and Stella, our French bulldog who is an important part of our family will certainly enjoy her new home as much as we will.”